AIDS 2012: ARV Controversies and Challenges: When to Start, What to Start?

AIDS 2012: ARV Controversies and Challenges: When to Start, What to Start?

For more information on this session, including access to speaker presentations, please see the conference Programme-at-a-Glance.

This session is designed to review the state-of-the-art of two of the major questions in antiretroviral therapy (ART): when to start therapy and what regimen(s) to start? The speakers will provide a global view, and respond to questions from both resource-rich setting (RRS) and resource-limited setting (RLS) perspectives.

The objectives of this session are for the audience to:

(1) acquire knowledge of the factors involved in deciding when to initiate ART in relation to resource capabilities, including point-of-care laboratory monitoring; (2) appreciate the differences between individualized patient management and the public health approach to ART; (3) recognize the impact that regional factors including endemic diseases, comorbid conditions, prevalence of primary drug resistance, healthcare systems capacity, and formulary options have on initial regimen choice; and (4) understand that the pathogenesis-based goals of ART in RRS and RLS are similar. This unifying principle is key to the commitment of minimizing disparities and achieving universal access. The intended audience for this session includes healthcare providers, clinical investigators and HIV programme planners with at least an intermediate level of knowledge of antiretroviral treatment in their communities.